Eighteen Days
by ambrosesaysnope
Summary: Eighteen days since he had last held her in his arms...Each day he woke up and he found this heart broke a little more." JohnCena/Riley. OneShot. Based on The RKO Series, by CraftyTink529 and KimGray, and song 18 Days by Saving Abel.


A/N: Hello everybody! I'm back with yet another one shot. However, this one is based off of the series _The Other RKO_ (completed) and _The Other Orton 2: Finally _(work in progress). Both are absolutely amazing stories, check them out. They are by CraftyTink529 and KimGray (they collaborated if you didn't notice). However, you can find both stories on CraftyTink529's fanfiction page.

Diclaimer: John Cena and Randy Orton each own themselves, Liz owns herself. Riley and Charles strictly belong to CraftyTink529 and KimGray. Although she is only mentioned, Kim owns herself. I take _no_ credit for Riley_, _Charles, or Kim,Riley's departure, and the incident with Charles. All that is all in the creation of CraftyTink529 and KimGray (how many more times do you think you'll be seeing their names here? Lol. The song _18 Days_ belongs to Saving Abel. Also, I'd like to thank both CraftyTink529 and KimGray for allowing me to use their characters and some of their ideas. As always, enjoy and review!

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John drunkenly stumbled into the dark room. At that current moment he had no sense of right and wrong. Nothing mattered anymore. Nobody cared, so why should he? It only made sense not to care. Right?

Instead of turning on the light, like anyone else would do, he continued to clumsily walk around his room. In his drunken stupor, he couldn't find his way around. He probably couldn't even tell himself where up was.

As he continued to wander the room, he bumped into his dresser causing something to fall to the ground. Once the object met the ground, it shattered to pieces. _'It must be something breakable.'_ John thought to himself.

Paying no attention to the broken object, John began to strip himself of everything he had on. For a moment he felt better. Walking around the room naked had always been a good stress reliever for the WWE champ. It worked, well somewhat in this case. But it would have been so much better if he had gotten that girl to come back home with him. She would have been perfect to keep his mind off of _her._

John almost had the girl out of the club until he called her Riley. As soon as her name came out of his mouth, he had cursed to himself under his breath. Meanwhile, the girl had stormed off as soon as she realized what his actual intentions were. You know, because they weren't obvious before.

So there he was, alone and naked in his room. Sighing to himself, John crawled underneath the covers. His final thoughts before falling asleep, like any other night, were about her.

_It's been 18 days,  
Since I'd look at myself,  
I don't wanna have to change,  
If I don't know, no one will,  
Is it my state of mind,  
Or is it just everything else,  
I don't wanna have to be here,  
I don't understand it now_,

The next morning, John woke up when he felt something hit his upper back. Groaning, he turned around to see Randy standing there holding his other shoe, obviously getting ready to throw the other one at him.

Randy smirked when he saw that John was fully awake. His smirk grew even wider, knowing full well that John was hung over. He was going to have fun with this. Smiling to himself, he began to shout.

"Wakey wakey! Eggs and bakey! Hands off snakey!"

"Ugh dude, what the hell is your problem? Don't fucking yell." John said as he held his head in his hands. This was not the way he wanted to start his morning off.

"Just making sure you're alive."

"Don't worry, I'm alive." John replied as he sat up in bed, carefully holding the blanket so that it still covered his lower half.

"Awesome. Now get your ass up. I have breakfast waiting for us downstairs."

"You cooked?"

"Hell no! I can't cook. You sure as hell can't cook." Randy replied as he thought about the time John had tried to make chicken soup for Riley when she was sick. "McDonald's breakfast."

John nodded as he began to get up. He completely forgot his was naked until Randy stopped him.

"Whoa dude, let me leave the room first. I don't want to see your junk." Randy stated as he walked out of John's room, purposely slamming the door shut behind him.

John grimaced as his head continued to pound. One would think he'd be use to this by now, considering he drank himself into oblivion every night.

Shaking his head of his thoughts, John got up and began to get ready for the day. He didn't feel like it. If it were up to him he would have stayed in bed all day, but he couldn't.

Once John was done getting ready, he did a once over in the mirror. And for the first time in a long time, he had really looked at himself. He didn't look the same. The usual shine in his eyes was gone. His smile was now glued into a permanent frown. It seemed like he couldn't smile anymore. Getting sick of looking at himself, more or less because he hated the image he was seeing, he walked towards his night stand and grabbed his phone as he plopped down on the bed.

_Cause its been 18 days,  
Since I first held you,  
But to me it feels just like,  
It feels like a lifetime,  
I'm trying hard to re-arrange,  
Some say its the hardest thing to do,  
But that's another 18 days,  
Without you.._

Eighteen days. It had been eighteen days since he last saw Riley. Eighteen days since he had last held her in his arms. A long time since he'd heard her laugh. And a while since he's seen her smile. Each day he woke up and he found this heart broke a little more.

He really missed her. Only eighteen days had gone by. But to him it seemed like months and years. Or maybe a lifetime would be the best way to describe it. Yeah that's it, lifetime was the word to use. It feels like a lifetime.

Flipping his phone open, he went to his call log and hit send. The phone rang once before it went directly to voicemail.

"Hey you've reached Riley. Sorry I missed your call. Leave a message. Who knows, if you're lucky maybe I'll call you back."

John was momentarily excited. He thought Riley had answered the phone.

This was some sort of self imposed torture on his half. Everyday he would call her phone just to hear her voice. He would count the days that passed. And more importantly, with everyday that went by, he hoped that she would be back. But that didn't happen. And each time he had those thoughts, he would only set himself up for disappointment in the end.

Shutting his phone, he tossed it aside. He had to stop doing this to himself; constantly calling her phone wouldn't make things any better. Drinking himself to shit wouldn't help either. Sleeping around wouldn't work either. None of these things would bring her back. But that didn't stop him from doing it.

John wasn't one to lie, he knew that he had changed and he knew it wasn't for the better either. He saw when he looked in the mirror earlier. He could tell by how his family would walk on eggshells around him. It was in the way that Dave would glare at him. It was the way that Kim would always call him out on his recent bullshit. It also showed in Randy's demeanor whenever John mentioned Riley.

He knew he had to change. John had already lost Riley. He knew he wouldn't be able to make it without his friends and family also. Despite what he would say to everyone, he knew deep down inside that he needed them.

Riley had obviously moved on with her life. So John would too. He would forget about Riley, and get himself back on the right track.

Who was he kidding? He wouldn't be able to forget about Riley. There was no doubt about that. She would always be with him, no matter what. It didn't matter the situation, he knew that she would always be stuck in his heart one way or the other.

_Time after time,  
I've been through this,  
You show me what it means to live,  
You give me hope when I was hopeless,  
As my days fade to night,  
I remember that state of mind,  
I'm soaring straight into your heart,  
And I'll fly high_,

Not being able to take the silence anymore, John began to head out of his room. But he stopped when he heard a piece of glass crunch underneath his shoes.

"What the hell?" John mumbled to himself.

Looking down, he saw the shattered picture frame on the floor, and along with it a picture that was on the floor face down. _'So this is what broke last night.'_ John thought to himself.

Without even thinking he picked up the picture. When he turned it over, he saw that it was picture of him and Riley.

He couldn't remember where the picture was taken, but he does know it was taken way before the attack Charles unleashed on Riley. After he punched the guy out, he thought that Charles would be gone forever. Obviously he was wrong.

Charles. His blood boiled at the thought of him. It was his fault that Riley was gone. Charles had messed up Riley big time. She was the never the same after that. And she never will be the same.

Anyway, back to the picture. Both John and Riley looked happy and healthy. John was standing behind Riley with his arms wrapped around her waist, his chin resting on her shoulder. His smile was wide. Riley's hands were resting on top of John's hands, a _real_ smile glued to her face. The famous Riley smile that reached up to her eyes. All the love and happiness radiated off of the picture.

Oh how much John wanted to rip up the picture to shreds. He wanted to forget about her, just like she forgot about him. But he couldn't. This one picture reminded him that they were _both _happy. It reminded him that they had good times, he couldn't only dwell on Riley's sudden departure.

Like when him and Liz first broke up, Riley was the first one there for him. She would stay up all night talking to him. When he had lost all hope in women, Riley was there to show him that not all women were like Liz. She told him that he would one day find someone that truly loved him for him, not what he had or what he did for a living.

Its safe to say that John fell even more in love with her during that time.

If it weren't for Riley, John definitely would have fallen into a depression after Liz. But he didn't because he had Riley there for him. He had to laugh at the irony, the one that kept him from being depressed was the one that actually threw him into his current depression.

However, a part of John still hoped that wherever Riley was, that he was still in her heart.

_Cause it's been 18 days,  
Since I first held you,  
But to me it feels just like,  
It feels like a lifetime,  
I'm trying hard to re-arrange,  
Some say it's the hardest thing to do,  
But that's just too many days,  
Without you_..

Its been eighteen days since he had last kissed her. Eighteen days since he had ran his hands through her long, soft, silky blonde hair. Its been eighteen days since he had last seen her tattoos.

Despite being mad at her, and hating her for breaking his heart, he knew that he still loved her. He always had and as far as he can tell, he always would.

But damn it all to hell, she hurt him. It was because of her that he was living like this. He should be happy right now. They should _both_ be happy right now. They could have been engaged by now. But no, she had to go and ruin it. Why did she have to be so selfish?

Dropping the picture on the dresser, he left the room, completely ignoring the broken glass that was still on the floor. Either he or the cleaning lady would get to cleaning it up later.

_And I know what they say,  
About all good things,  
Will they come to an end,  
But I'll fight this time,  
So that we might,  
Have a chance at this_,

"Its about time you came downstairs." Randy stated when John walked into the kitchen. "How are you feeling today?"

"Like shit."

"That's the way to stay positive." Randy remarked sarcastically.

John just glared at Randy. Why was he there? All John wanted was to be alone. Didn't anybody understand that? Was there some kind of schedule his friends had set up so that they can keep an eye on him?

Sighing, John shoved the Egg McMuffin out of his line of vision. He instead opted for the coffee that was in the coffee pot resting on the kitchen counter. He wasn't very hungry.

"Its kind of hard to be positive when she left me high and dry. We had such a good thing going. We were happy. It wasn't supposed to end, we were supposed to be together forever. How can she just leave me? How can she ruin everything that we had?" John vented.

"I don't know John." Randy replied. He was really trying to keep his temper in line. John was really starting to piss him off. He had promised Dave and Kim that he wouldn't kill John, more or less for Riley's sake.

"I know one thing for sure, I'm going to look for her. No matter how much I hate her right now, not matter how heart broken I am, I'm going to find her. I'm going to fight this."

Randy just stared on at his long time friend. John was a shell of his former self. Instead of being happy and goofy, like he always was, now, he was just morbid and depressed.

"You're not going to find her." Randy said as he finished off his breakfast. Also, he was trying to keep himself calm. "I know Riley, and if she doesn't want to be found then she won't be found. She'll come back on her own, when she's good and ready. And once she finds herself."

"How can you be so happy that she left? For the love of God, you're her freaking brother!"

That was it. Randy threw the idea of being calm out the window. He just snapped. "Look, you're not the only one who doesn't have somebody. My parents don't have their daughter, Nate and I don't have our sister. Alana doesn't have her aunt and Sam doesn't have her best friend. And don't even get me started on everyone else. We all miss Riley, and we all love her too! But we all _know_ that she'll come back when she is ready." Randy fumed. "She's going through hell right now, her life hasn't been the same since Charles. Riley obviously lost something that night. She tried to go for help, but that obviously didn't work. So she took a different approach, she went elsewhere for help. Do I like that she felt that she had to leave? No. But if that is the only way that Riley can help herself, then fine. As long as she comes back safe and happy, then I'll be happy, we'll all be happy. So don't even sit there calling her selfish. Maybe if you got your head out of your ass for ten minutes, then you'd realize it."

Once Randy was done ranting, he left to go back to his hotel. He felt it would be better if he left, that way he wouldn't kill John.

As soon as John heard the door slam shut, he thought of what Randy said. Everything made sense. But John was still hurt. He didn't know how to feel anymore. One minute he loved her and the next minute he hated her. He was running hot and cold. Ever since Riley hade left, he had lost complete and total control of his life. And he hated that feeling.

_Cause it's been 18 days,  
Since I'd look at myself,  
I don't wanna have to change,  
If I don't then no one will_,

Eighteen days. It had been eighteen days since he had made love to her. Eighteen days since he had last kissed her. And eighteen days since he had heard her voice.

Things had changed dramatically since she left. He wasn't the same anymore. Deep down inside he knew he had to change. But he couldn't, he wouldn't. His pride was rearing its head and he refused to changed for the sake of nothing.

_Cause its been too many days,  
Since I first held you,  
But to me it feels just like,  
It feel like a lifetime,  
I'm trying hard to re-arrange,  
Some say it's the hardest thing to do,  
But that's just too many days without you_..

Sighing, John headed back upstairs to his room. He wanted to sulk and wallow in self pity some more. After all, he didn't want to do much else lately.

All he wants right now is for things to go back to normal. He wanted to be himself again. He wanted Riley in his arms again. But he knew that wouldn't happen right away. It would take a lot of time.

As much as he hated to admit it, he knew he had to wait. Maybe when she did come back, he could get his piece of mind back. Things could then go back to normal. Everything will like it was and no one would be upset or angry with everyone else.

_And I know what they say,__  
About all good things,  
Will they come to an end,  
But I'll fight this time,  
So that we might,  
Have a chance at this.._

Not having much else to do, John decided to clean up the broken pieces of the picture frame. In his heart, he knew that they weren't done. He'd fight for her. But until then, he would have to wait another eighteen days.


End file.
